Senate committee approves health ‘cost containment’ measure

Complicated health bills that leave thousands of Iowans puzzled as to what they are truly being billed for would be tackled under a bill approved by a Senate committee today, advocates say.

Senate File 2230 would require Iowa’s insurance commissioner to launch a health insurance and cost containment bureau. The group would create methodologies to ultimately hold insurance companies accountable for affordable health care throughout the state, which advocates say would make billing more transparent and fair.

One of the key points would be for the commission to compare typical health procedure costs throughout the state in an “all-payer claims database” to help regulators determine why or if some areas of the state pay substantially more than others. The bureau would include an advisory board made up of seven governor appointees and other non-voting members who would work in an advisory capacity.

The bill comes after a report in December from the state’s department of human services and health insurance division outlined the potential benefits and costs of such a database. The December report notes that a previous attempt to create the database in 1982 ultimately failed after it was discovered that self-insured plans were subject to federal laws and not state regulations, which the report noted left holes in the reporting and detracted from the overall usefulness of the database.

The bill passed the Senate Ways and Means Committee in a 10 to 5 vote today, divided mostly along party lines with the exception of the support of Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale.

Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport and a member of the committee earlier this month noted opposition because of the cost, which is estimated to be between $500,000 to $2 million with what he noted as no guarantee that what Iowans pay in health care premiums would be reduced.

Zaun, after today’s meeting, expressed a different view.

“I think it’s an idea worthy of exploring,” said Zaun, noting he has five children and has personally dealt with massively complicated health bills. “I think it’s a creative idea to talk about transparency in health care were we have the ability to look and see what they charge.”